The clothes he left for me must have been Esme's. The underwear were obviously new, the tag was still on them. I pulled the white dress over my head and straightened it out. It was a small sundress and barely came to my knees. I walked out of the bathroom and snuck over to the top of the stairs. I could hear Edward's voice as he spoke to Carlisle. Apparently my bloody situation made him change his mind about calling his father. "Carlisle I don't know what I've done to her. You should see her, there is no way all those bruises are not hurting her." His voice trailed off and I waited. "No I didn't. I almost did but she got my attention." After that there were a lot of "hmm" and "mhmm" before he finally said, "I'll let her know, thank you." When I finally heard the click of his phone shutting I made my way down the stairs.
Edward was sitting on the couch. He looked up as I reached the bottom, his eyes combed over my body before he sighed and stood up. "Bella dear, I think we should go see Carlisle. He wants to make sure your okay." He stayed silent for a few minutes, waiting for me to say something. "Edward I want to stay here a little longer." I barely got the last word out before he started yelling. "What? You want to stay here? Bella I don't know if I'm going to be able to control myself, I cant trust me anymore!" He closed his eyes and walked over to lean on the railing of the stairs. "I'm sorry Bella, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I'm sorry for what I've done here. I'll never forgive myself for hurting you!" His voice cracked and I knew he would be crying if he could. "I'm not going to lie to you, you did hurt me," he winced, "but I'm not going to mope around like you think I should. I'm never going to get over this, I'll never forget what happened here. Its going to hurt for the rest of my life. That doesn't mean I hate you and I certainly don't blame you!" He stared at me. "You have warned me time and time again about your self control and I never listened. After what happened the first time, we should have just went home but I pushed you again!" I was yelling at him now, brushing tears away with the back of my hand. "I just wanted things to go like I dreamed they would, I just…" I sank to the floor and held myself. Edward was still standing by the stairs staring at me. "Edward…" I cried. He came over and kneeled next to me. He placed his hands over mine.
We ended up staying until it was nearly dark. Side by side we remained on the floor. He held me in his arms. The fire had burned out a long time ago. It was completely dark when the door burst open and I was wrenched out of Edwards arms. He was slammed against the wall by Emmett and Jasper. I turned to see Alice's face nearly touching mine as she held me against her small form. She looked down and me and seemed shocked. "You're not dead?" "Well duh. Why did you think I would be?" Edward was let down and he ran to my side. They all stared at each other and seemed to relax. "Man we thought you did it!" Emmett exclaimed. "Carlisle said you were coming home and when you didn't we feared the worst," Alice squeaked in her tiny voice. Jasper touched Edwards arm. "I'm sorry, we heard what happened last night so…" Edward just nodded and held me tighter.
We all ran home after that. Edward held me close to him and he charged through the woods. Carlisle was waiting outside when we arrived. He had a grim look on his face. Edward set me down and took a single step towards his father when a pale blur tackled him. I turned to see Rosalie holding Edward to the ground. "How could you! How could you do such a thing! You have no idea what its like to have that happen to you! Why would you hurt her like that!" Her voice was shrill and it hovered in the tree tops. No one said anything. Edward just stared into his sisters face. He didn't fight her. I couldn't take my eyes off her livid face. She wasn't doing this because of me, she was remembering he last night as a human. I dashed forward and grabbed her arm, it wasn't a forceful move. I knew I couldn't stop her but I hoped I could reason with her. "Rosalie please. He knows what he's done!" Her eyes met mine and she reached out and pulled me into a hug. I buried my face in her shoulder. This was the first time she really reached out to me. Her arms wrapped tightly around me. I felt the tears start again. I couldn't help it. They just kept coming and coming.
Eventually Rosalie carried me into the house and Carlisle examined my arms. He wanted to check out the other damage Edward had done. I shuttered but Rosalie said she would stay with me while he did his check. I climbed the stairs slowly while Edward placed his head in his hands. I knew he was thinking the worst. It couldn't be all that bad if I was walking around right? Dread filled me as I cleared the last step. It couldn't be that bad.
Carlisle had me change into a gown before setting me up on a table. "Now Bella, when I say this might be a little cold, don't take it like other doctors. You know how we vampires are." His smile made me feel a little better. "Ready?" I sighed and nodded. I felt his cold hand feeling around. It was uncomfortable but the cold actually helped. He never said anything or made a sound. Rosalie held my hand and tried to smile but I knew she was remembering her horrible experience. Technically she didn't survive it. He reached further in and pain shot through me again. Rosalie squeezed my hand in reassurance. After a few more seconds he stood up and pulled off his latex glove. "Well ladies I would like to go speak with Edward for just a moment." without another word he walked out of the room and left us alone.
I redressed while he was away and then sat quietly with Rose at my side. She seemed to be listening intently. I wondered if she could hear what Carlisle was saying downstairs. She must have noticed my sudden anxiety because she squeezed my hand. It was the first time we were happy for each others company. I couldn't have asked for someone better to be there. She knew what I was going through. Her golden eyes were focused on the door across the room. I wish I knew what she was hearing. Did she already know if something was wrong? It was frustrating to not know. Everyone around me knew what was going on!
I stood up and started across the room, fully intent on finding something out. Rosalie followed me but didn't seem to want to stop me. I just opened the door when pain caught me again. I gripped my stomach and tried to ride it out. Rosalie held my arm to keep me from falling down. "Bella, I have to go, your bleeding." She was gone before I could look up. I reached under my dress and pulled back a hand covered in blood. Edward was next to me then. His arms wrapped around me and ran me to the bathroom. Carlisle was already there waiting for us. His concern was obvious. "Edward help her get cleaned up. Alice brought some clothes but she didn't want to help for obvious reasons." He stepped aside and let us pass. Edward shut the door and set me on the edge of an over sized tub. "Rosalie is sorry she had to run away like she did" "She doesn't need to be, I would never be mad at her for that." He pulled some dark clothes from the toilet seat and held them out for me. There was a pair of brand new sweat pants and a t-shirt. Thank you Alice for being considerate.
"Would you like to take a shower?" I shook my head. "I'll just clean myself up and get dressed, I don't want to shower twice today." Edward pulled a washrag out of a cupboard and handed it to my. His whole body was stiff. Was it the smell of my blood? "Let me know if you need me," he whispered and walked out before I could protest. I quickly wiped up the blood and redressed. Downstairs the whole family was sitting in the living room except Edward. He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Bella I would have helped you." "Edward I don't need any help, I'm perfectly capable of walking." He didn't look convinced. Carlisle spoke next. "I think we should talk about that." His words unnerved me worse than anything had so far.
Edward helped me down the last few steps and we walked to the couch where Alice already sat. Her face was grim. Edward held my hands in his, he was moving his fingers over the back of my hand slowly. He wouldn't meet my gaze. Carlisle sighed and walked to stand in front of us. "Now I'm not going to sugar coat this at all, its not the time to spare feelings," he glanced at Edward. "There is some extensive damage done Bella, honestly I cant believe your not down from the pain it should be causing you. Edward tore your insides to shreds, that much was obvious." Edward winced at his truth. "It seems to me that your wounds are healing but when you move around, its tearing them open again. I should have told you before I went to talk to Edward." I looked over at him but he was staring at the floor. "Bella dear, you need to rest. You cant be up moving around for awhile. Your body needs time to heal." I sighed. What was I going to tell Charlie?
Once Carlisle had given me instructions Edward carefully picked up and took me out to his car. Our drive was silent, it reminded me of his behavior before he left me. Fear seized me and I couldn't hold back the tears. As soon as he noticed he pulled over and put his arms around me. "What is wrong love?" I took a deep breath and whispered, "Your going to leave me again!" He froze. His arms tightened around me. "Bella I told you I would never leave again. Never." He pulled away to look at me. "What kind of man would I be if I abandoned you now? This whole situation is my fault. I'm going to do everything I can for you." I continued to cry but the relief was overpowering. He hugged me again before taking the wheel. We drove the rest of the way in silence.